Speed-governor for steam-engines



(No Model.)

B. HILL.

SPEED GOVERNOR FOR STEAM ENGINES. No. 319,251. Patented June 2, 1885.

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I UNITED STATES Parent Caries.

EBENEZER HILL, OF SOUTH NORWVALK, CONNECTICUT.

SPEED-GOVERNOR FOR STEAM-ENGINES.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 319,251, dated June 2,1885. Application filed March 16, 1885. (No model.)

new and useful Improvements inGovernors for Steam-Engines, of which thefollowing is a full, clear, and exact description.

Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings, forming part ofthis specification,

in which similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts inboth the figures.

Figure 1 is a sectional side elevation of one of my improvedspeed-governors for steamengines. Fig. 2 is a plan view of the same,partly in section, through the line 00 as, Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a detailsection view.

The object of this invention is to provide speed-governors forsteam-engines, particularly for such engines as are used for compressingair or pumping water, which shall be so constructed as to prevent thespeed of the engine from exceeding a fixed limit, and at all speedsbelow the said fixed limit to regulate the speed in' exact proportion tothe amount of compressed air consumed.-

The invention relates to a speed-governor for steam-engines, constructedwith a ball-governor connected with an engine, and with a pipe leadingto a reservoir for a fluid under pressure and provided with a valveopened by the spread of the governor-balls, in combination with acylinder having side slot and a piston working in the said cylinder andconnected with the stem of a throttle-valve, wh ereby a change of speedin the engine will cause a fluid to act on the said piston to move athrottle-valve, and thus regulate the speed of the engine. WVith thecylinder and its piston connected with the stem of a throttle-valve isconnected a second piston, and a safety-valve connected with thecompression-chamber of an air-compressor, whereby an excess of press urein said compression-chamber will raise the said pistons and close thesaid throttlevalve to check the speed of the engine, as will behereinafter fully described and then claimed.

A represents the body or stock of a valve, which is placed in thesteam-supply pipe B of the engine. C is the valve, which, when at thelowest point of its movement, is wide open, and allows steam to passthrough without being throttled, and which, when raised, contracts thesteani-passage in proportion to the amount of its upward movement. Thestem D of the valve Cpasses out through a stuffingbox, IE, and to itsupper end is attached a piston, F, which works in a small cylinder,

G, placed above the valve-stock A and supported by standards H, formedupon or attached to the said cylinder and to the cover of the valve A C.The standards H are curved outward, as indicated in Fig. 2, to give freeaccess to the stuffingbox D. With this con struction the valve C will beclosed and opened by the upward and downward movement of the piston F.

At one side of the cylinder G is placed a centrifugal ball-governor, I,which is constructed in the ordinary manner, except that the valve J ofthe said governor is constructed to open when the balls are thrownoutward by centrifugal force. The governor I is connected by the pipe Kwith some reservoir containing a fluid under pressure-as, for instance,the air-reservoir of an air-compressorand is connected by a driving-beltwith the mechanism of the engine to be regulated. When the speedattained is such as to cause the balls of the governor I to move outwardso far as to open the valve J, the air or other fluid will flow from thepipe K through the I valve J and pipe L into the cylinder G, below thepiston F, and will raise the said piston, and thus throttle the steam inits passage through the valve A C.

In the side of the cylinder G is formed a slot, M, the width of which isregulated by an elastic plate, N. The edge of the plate N is inserted inthe slot M, and the said plate is secured by a screw, 0, to a recessedlug, P, formed upon the said cylinder G at the side of the slot M, sothat by turning the screw 0 the plate can be deflected more or less toregulate the width of the slot, as shown in Fig. 3. With thisconstruction, the fluid that passes the valve J and enters the cylinderG escapes through the slot M, and as the said valve J opens wider andwider the piston F is raised higher and higher, uncovering more and moreof the slot M, and thus enlarging the escapepassage for the said fluid,so that the throttling of the steam by the valve C is regulated by thespeed of the ball-governor I.

Within the cylinder G, and beneath the piston F, is placed a secondpiston, Q, and with the said'cylinderG, beneath the piston Q, isconnected the end of a pipe, R, leading to a safety-valve, S, which isconnected by the pipe '1 with a fluid under pressure. With thisconstruction, when the pressure of the fluid exceeds the amount forwhich the safetyvalve'S is set, the said fluid opens the saidsafety-valve S, enters the cylinder G, raises the piston Q, and escapesthrough the slot M. The piston Q in its upward movement pushes thepiston F before it, and thus throttles the steam in its passage throughthe valve 0; The upward movement of the piston F is limited by ahand-screw, U, passing in through the upper head of the cylinder Gr.-

To the piston Q is attached a tubular pis ton-rod,'V, through which thevalve-stem D passes, and which passes down through the lower head of thecylinder G.

To the lower end of the tubular piston-rod V is attached or upon it isformed a lug or flange, W, through which passes a hand-screw, X, theforward end of which comes in contact with the lower head of thecylinder G, and thus limits the upward movement of the piston Qindependently of the pistonF. With this construction the steam will bethrottled and the speed of the engine lessened by an undue increase ofspeed in the engine or by an excess of pressure in thecompression-chamber of anair-compressor.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire tosecure by Letters Patent, is-

1. In a speed-governor for steam-engines, the ball-governor I, connectedwith the engine, and with a pipe, K, leading to a reservoir for fluidunder pressure, and provided with a valve, J, opened by the spread ofthe governor-balls, in combination with the cylinder G, connected withthe pipe K, and having side slot, M, and the piston F, connected withthe stem D of a throttle-valve, A (J, substan-' tially as herein shownand described, whereby provision is made for the escape of the fluidbelow the piston when pressure is applied to the lower side of the saidpiston, and permit ting a change of speed in the engine to cause a fluidto act on the said piston to move a throttle-valve, and thus regulatethe speed of EBENEZER HILL.

Witnesses:

O. J. HILL, J. A. SLATER.

